Christmas Day 2008

Well, Daddy tried really hard to upload a video on here, but it just wasn't working. We thought some of you would like to see Sydney in action.... oh well, maybe next time. Overall we had a great Christmas. It was so nice to Sydney trying to figure it all out! She just didn't know what to expect. But it didn't take her long...

As far as the rest of Christmas Day, Sydney learned how to open presents and was very eager to open them..... for awhile. Of course she got bored and wanted to play with her toys after awhile, so we just stopped opening presents and waited until she was ready for more. One of the big hits was a Pack & Play for doll babies. You've got to laugh at how a child's mind works! Sydney immediately tries to crawl in and lay down in the Pack & Play. Here's a look at her attempts!

After opening most of her presents, we got dressed and went over to Mimi and Papi's house for lunch. It was so yummy. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, baked corn, broccoli, Pillsbury crescent rolls (Daddy's favorite), and lots of desserts. It was like Thanksgiving Day all over again! The holidays are really starting to add up on the bathroom scale. Mimi and Papi went WAY overboard on presents, and so did Great Grammy. Sydney is going to be one spoiled little girl.

Christmas Eve 2008

Although last year was technically Sydney's first Christmas, this year is the first "fun" Christmas now that Sydney understands what presents actually are. This year for Christmas Eve, we once again went over to Bryan & Tammy's house. Sydney really likes her cousins Brett and Joey, and the new addition to their family, Sam the puppy. He's so cute.... take a look! Here Sam is opening his first Christmas present.

Sam is just a little puppy, and plays a bit rough with kids, so unfortunately when Sydney was in the kitchen.... Sam had to go into his cage. To some people keeping the dog in the cage may seem a bit cruel, but Sam did not spend ALL night in the cage. Sydney seemed to enjoy the cage quite a bit and voluntarily crawled in to play with Sam's toys. To be honest, this was a win-win situation. Sam got some time out of the cage and Sydney was content playing with Sam's toys. Overall, it was a very nice Christmas Eve. I can't wait to see what Sydney does next year! Oh, and I know you aren't suppose to feed the animals, but mommy couldn't resist feeding our little animal through the bars.

1st Day of School

Okay.... not really! Sydney is not quite ready for her first day of school, but Sydney did participate in Mifflinburg High School's "Baby Day" yesterday. She had an awesome time and as usual kept everybody entertained. I dropped Sydney off for school at 7:30 in the morning and I must say that I had my reservations. I was concerned that she would be "scared" and start crying for me once she realized I would be leaving. I was completely wrong! As soon as she saw the other kids. Sydney took off and started playing never looking back to see if I was still there. What an independent little girl!

When I went to pick her up, Sydney was sound asleep. Evidentally she had played really hard all morning long and was exhausted. They had done some crafts and played games. Rather than wake her up, I went to the high school auditorium where the high school choir and band were performing for students and enjoyed the concert. After about an hour I went back and there was Sydney awake and eating a chocolate chip cookie. I don't think the day could have went any better for her. Here is a picture of Sydney's craft project for the day.

Thanksgiving 2008

We hope everybody had a good Turkey Day! If you celebrated anything like us, you probably need to start the "New Year Diet" in December. Daddy's pants are fitting a bit too tight for his liking... haha. But overall, we had a great Thanksgiving and ate lots of food. Sydney got to see some of her cousins which are growing just as fast as her.

It's so funny to watch Sydney interact with other kids. Since she isn't around kids on a regular basis, she always is a little cautious. I love to sit back and just watch her mind work. You can just tell she is trying to figure out how to play with the kids. But you what.... I don't think it would even matter. She ends up doing her own thing anyhow!

I uve you…

So we need to update you on some of Sydney’s newest milestones. There are coming on so quick it’s hard to keep you updated. There’s not a second that goes by that I’m not grateful to have her and Jeremy in my life. Even when I’m fighting with her at church stay in her seat. It’s funny, during one of Sydney’s break aways on Sunday night, she ran and then danced as though she won! “haha, mom I’m too fast for you” was the look in her eye. So as she dance Sis. Connie laughed and said, Oh Darla I prayed she would be just like you!” I of course fired off a “thanks a lot!” Did you realize what you were really asking for? haha I guess it’s pay back for all the time I misbehaved during Jeremy’s music practices… She becoming more and more curious of others and you can’t find an 19 month old that friendlier than Sydney. She got this thing about her that just draws people in where ever we go… and if their not drawn in…she in your face about it, sending out her loud and friendly Hi’s. Whether that person is 2 feet or 12 feet away for her she’s offering out a greeting of some sorts. It’s quite amusing to see people’s reactions when they are forced into being friendly with her. I hope she never loses her zeal…

Sydney is learning to play make believe with her toys. We had quite the conversation the other day with Mr. Potato Head! It was the neatest thing, Sydney was playing with Mr. Potato Head as usually, ripping off all his body parts and creating Picasso’s out of him with sticking his eyes where his left ear should be and his ear where his nose should be and so on. Well, once Mom put him back together as he should be, Sydney grabbed Mr. Potato Head little hand and shook while saying “Hiiiiii!” When I finally caught on to what she was doing (because mom can be slow sometimes or maybe it’s the fact that I can’t believe she gets it) I would interject (or speak for) Mr. Potato Head with a “Hi Sydney and how are you?” Not expecting a response of course, Sydney gives us a “Good!” Now of course Sydney vocabulary is still limited we spent a good 20 -25 minutes reciting this dialog:

Sydney (while shaking Mr. P’s hand): “Hiiiiii!”
Mommie (voice of Mr. P): “Hi Sydney, how are you?
Sydney: “Good!” ……… “Hiiiiiii!” (and repeat)

My other favorite new milestone is comprehending “I love you”
Up until just recently, whenever you told Sydney “I love you” she would always say “Bye!” Mainly because whenever we say good bye it would be followed with and I love you. So I made it a point to teach Syd to say I love and make sure we were doing it not only when we were leaving somewhere. So while we were playing Monday night, my efforts paid off. I was laying on the floor and Sydney was climbing on my back and all of a sudden, she laid down and squeezed me and said “I uve you.” Well, I just about melted.

We've Got A Climber

Sydney has never been a climber,.... that is until recently. On Saturday, Sydney had just awaken from her nap so I went to the kitchen to get a snack and a drink for the kiddo. As I return to the living room, I see Sydney sitting cross-legged on one of our endtables. Now those of you that don't know, our endtables are pedistals -- a round table top with one main leg that branches out into four feet at the bottom. How in the world Sydney didn't tip the whole thing over is beyond me. I tell ya.... you can't leave that child for a second.

Later that same evening, we made some popcorn and put the bowl on the dining room table out of Sydney's reach.... or so we thought. Our new adventurer pulled out the chair climbed up and onto the table and started eating the popcorn right out of the bowl! God help us!!!

Ugggh.... The Stomach Bug

WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! This posting could be highly contagious to your health. If you have not experienced the stomach bug that's floating around, here's to hoping that you don't get it. Our poor little girl woke up this past Tuesday night at 1:30am throwing up in her bed. And then again at 2:00am.... and again at 2:30am.... and again.... and again until 5:30am. When it was all said and done, Sydney had thrown up 5 or 6 times and we had to change the sheets twice in her crib and twice on our bed. Yippee!!! I love doing laundry at 3:30am! Needless to say, Daddy did not go into the work on Wednesday, seeing as how he only got about 2 hours of sleep. The good news?... An extra day with Sydney! YEA!!!

Luckily, this bug only lasted for a day....for Sydney. However, Mommy and Daddy both got sick on Friday with the same thing. And Grammy got the bug on Saturday. Our daughter shares really well! Here's to hoping that this doesn't happen anytime soon.... Stay healthy!

Say "Cheese"!

I'm sure you are getting sick of hearing this, but we are way too busy. I feel like every time we turn around there's something new happening, but we are unable to post it to this blog. Sydney is just over 18 months old now, and we still haven't gotten her 1-year pictures. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to go visit some new friends of ours who asked to take Sydney's pictures. We had an awesome time at Troy and Olga's! They are such great people, and their 6 kids seemed to have a fun time with Sydney.

On Saturday, Olga took us to an Apple orchard near their house. Although we didn't go into the orchard, they were selling lots of pumpkins and we got a few good pictures out of it. On Sunday, we all went to church and then went to Lafayette College afterwards to get a few more pictures. When it was all said and done, Olga took about 1000 pictures and we ended up with some spectacular shots of Sydney and the family. Thank you so much Olga!!! It would be impossible to show you every precious moment caught on film, but here are a few of our favorite pics.

I must say that Sydney kept things interesting for Olga. Sydney was too preoccupied looking at everything around her that she simply was not interested at all in getting her picture taken. What's so ironic about it is that Sydney will say "cheese" everytime Darla and I try to take her picture at home, but not this weekend.

Megan, can I please borrow your toothpicks?

My friend Megan is the best with her witty explanations of life with a toddler. Poor Megan has dealt with her fair share of sleepless nights and has often used toothpicks to hold up her eyelids, right Megan? Actually, I should rephrase that to “unfair” share! HAHA Well, we have two sleepless nights in a row for this week so far. Not sure what’s going, but poor little Sydney is all messed up right now. Tuesday night into Wednesday morning she woke up around 4:00a and didn’t fall back to sleep until my alarm went off at 5:50am. Great way to start your day! Haha Then again last night she woke around 2:00am and then last kick I remember was around 3:30am. I’ve always been really strict about letting her sleep in our bed, normally I would sleep anywhere but our bed, her floor, her chair, living room floor you name it, just not our bed. But the last two nights we gave in and laid her down in our bed between us where she would spend the next hour or so rolling around until she would find that perfect spot to finally drift off. By the way that spot is usually somehow on me. I think she knows just what to do now to make me laugh, just when I think I had enough I roll over to face away from her thinking I can somehow get comfortable on the 6 inches of mattress that’s left and then I feel this little hand on my shoulder with increased pressure with her lean as if she’s checking me to see if I’m really sleeping. I had to laugh, but not wanting to draw anymore attention I contained myself. So this morning as I showered …with my eyes close and only a night light on… literally…I tried to think what might be the problem, then I remembered, when we brushed her teeth the day before I noticed her upper I teeth coming in. For what I have heard, those are not fun to get in. It would explain her runny nose and slight fever she had yesterday morning. We been SO fortunate with her sleeping habits and teething and if we have a couple more sleepless nights, I can deal…now Daddie’s another story. I don’t know what worse sometimes, Staying up with Sydney or dealing with Jeremy the next day with no sleep. Haha I think f we have another sleepless night tonight, Mommie and Sydney are going to camp out in the living room. We’ll give Daddie a break for the night. So when you curl up tonight already to go off to dream land, think of us! And count your blessings! Love you all!

Hat Girl

I'm not one to normally go on about things like this, but I must say that Sydney looks absolutely adorable in hats. I'm sure I'm probably just one of "those dads" that think their kid is the cutest thing ever, but seriously... my little girl is SO CUTE. For those of you that didn't know, Mommy has been making hats for Sydney to wear with her different outfits. Aside from how cute she looks, the most shocking thing is that Sydney actually leaves the hats on. For some reason she has no problem when we put things on her head or in her hair. It's awesome! Mommy is just thrilled that she can dress her little girl up. Here are some pics of Sydney in her hats that Mommy made. My favorite pic is the one with her in the car. Here Sydney is, this little girl in such a pretty, girly outfit sitting inside this dirty car. As they say, "You can dress them up,.... "

Living in fast forward

I cannot believe the time that passed since we “blogged” last!! So sorry to all our friends and family! It just feels like time is flying by! Where to begin! Boy oh boy!! Well, Sydney’s skills are increasing daily anymore. She is able to repeat most of what we ask her to say! But I have to start off with this one. Sydney, about 3 weeks ago started counting to 10! The three of us were sitting down to dinner one night and Jeremy was counting something out for Sydney and stopped around 4, well Syd picked right up with 5 then Jeremy said 6 and she continues with 7,8, 9 and “t” for 10. It was amazing! 17 months and counting to 10. I’m sure some of you with your baby geniuses may not be too impressed but we are!!! I’m hoping we can record this for you all and hopefully post it on the blog for you all to hear. Along with her many tricks, animals sounds are a favorite! She can do a dog, cat, monkey, sheep, coyote and our favorite the cow. Where she got this cow sound from, we don’t know, but she will never learn to moo because we incourage the “new” sound. When’s she’s in the mood, if you ask her what the moo cow says, she crinkles her cure little face up and yells out “new!” not moo but new! She’s able to recognize many different pictures and put some wood puzzles together by herself. Some of her vocabulary is: hello, see ya, baby, mommie, daddie, mimi, pappy, gi gi, more, please, thank you, drink, pizza, bath, shoe, swing, up, tickle, ducky, no, yea, oh no, uh oh, car, ball, boat, kitty, choo choo (train), fishy, cake, cookie, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, shoulder, elbow and elmo. These are all words that she not only she says on her own, but she can recognize too. Body parts that she can point too on command, hair, head, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, cheeks, tongue, teeth, ears, elbow, fingers, belly, knee (sometimes), and toes.

So now you see why we don’t have time to blog! Haha We will try to update more often! Hope everyone’s well!!

Our Big Scare!

I must preface this entry by saying.... please don't report us. Sydney gave me the biggest scare thus far as a parent. Our morning routine throughout the summer is pretty predictable. Sydney wakes up around 8:30am, and then we go downstairs. We turn on the cartoons and drink a bottle of milk. While Sydney is busy drinking her milk, Daddy goes out to the kitchen to get breakfast ready. It doesn't take that long --maybe 5 minutes or so-- but evidently that's enough time for something bad to happen.

Yesterday Sydney and I were right on schedule. After getting her breakfast, I walked into the living room to get Sydney and put her in her highchair so she could eat. As I get closer, I notice that she is chewing on something. I couldn't tell what it was, and since Sydney has been pretty good about not putting stuff in her mouth I didn't feel the need to rush over. That was until I saw Mommy's sewing basket on the floor. Just then I see what Sydney is putting in her mouth.... a straight pin!

Of course, I try to remain calm and say... "No, no, Sydney", as I carefully pull the pin out of her mouth. Investigating further, I realize that Sydney has more pins that she had already put in her mouth. So I start pulling one pin out... and another.... and another.... and another. Seven in all!! Never once did Sydney cry or fuss. After taking Sydney to the doctor and getting an x-ray, it was a relief to know that she did not swallow any pins. It was an absolute miracle that nothing serious happened. In fact, the only thing Sydney had to show for this experience was a tiny little scratch on her cheek.

On a more "positive" note, we lost one of the magnets to Sydney's Magna Doodle. We weren't too concerned that she had swallowed it since the magnets are pretty big, but we have looked everywhere for it. I guess the x-ray served two purposes by confirming that neither the pins nor the magnet was in her belly. Hmmm.... I wonder where that magnet is..... I guess we'll have to keep looking.

15-Month Check-Up

We always say it, but we have a BIG baby girl. At her 15-month check-up on Monday, Sydney was 34.25 inches long (above 95th percentile), and 27 lbs. 9 oz. (93rd percentile). It just shocks me as to how fast she is growing. I keep trying to remind myself that even though she is in the 93rd percentile for weight.... she is not fat. People always mistake her for being older than what she is. I swear, by the time she is 5 years old, people are going to think she's 10!

Sydney also had to get 3 shots at this appointment..... ouch! I think she is soon going to start associating the doctor's office with pain. It's obvious she is starting to make connections because everytime she sees Mimi and Pappy's house, she yells out, "Mimi!". I guess it's just a matter of time before she's kicking and screaming all the way from the car into the doctor's office.

A Day At Knoebel's

With Sydney getting older and July 4th making a long weekend, the three of us along with Mimi and Pappy went Knoebel's for a day of fun. Of course Darla was all about getting Sydney to go on the kiddie rides. Well, for the most part Sydney had fun. One of the words she says all the time right now is "ball". So we decided to take her to the ball pit. I think Mommy was reliving her childhood because she crawled right in there with Sydney and probably had more fun! After that, we took Sydney to the air trampoline thingy... but this time it was Daddy's turn to go in with Sydney. She had a lot of fun in there, but had a very hard time walking... so she just crawled everywhere she wanted to go. Of course Mommy hadn't tortured her enough, so our next stop was the little Carousel for kids. Sydney didn't seem to mind it at first, but as the ride continued you could see she was getting scared and started grabbing on to me. Overall, though, it was a great day! We had a lot of fun. A lot of food. And a little fantasy. All I have to say is Sydney better like the rides, because Mommy and Daddy need somebody to ride with them on the rollercoasters.... we can't just let our kid(s) running around without supervision. I know it will be a few years until then, but maybe next year Sydney will have more fun on the rides that are her size! I can't wait!

A Day at Rickett's Glenn

All I have to say is, if you haven't been to Rickett's Glenn lately.... you need to go! We had so much fun. This past Saturday we took a trip with some friends from church and had a picnic at the beach area of Rickett's Glenn. After we were done eating, Darla and I went on the paddleboats. And by the way, I had to paddle most of the time..... Darla whimped out for some of time. Anyways, after our fun we decided to let Sydney play in the water at the beach. She had a blast!!! She loves water as it is, but then to be able to walk up and down the beach in the water was just amazing to her. Darla eventually had to take her out of the water because she was getting too cold. It didn't bother Sydney, though. She would have stayed all day long! While Mommy and Sydney were playing in the water, I decided to go for a hike on the Falls Trail. It has been so long since I've been on those trails, and I had forgotten how beautiful the falls are. It is so awesome how big some of these waterfalls were! The biggest waterfall was over 90 feet tall!!! Grant it, this is not Niagra, but still.... for central Pennsylvaia this is pretty awesome! You really need to go visit Rickett's Glenn, but be prepared..... the hike back up the mountain is a killer. I had to stop a few times to catch my breath. In fact, the one area was named Ozone... kind of ironic since that was where I was struggling for air. Here's a picture of one of the "small" waterfalls. I think it was only 30 or 40 feet high!

Narcolepsy??

So this is going to sound stupid, but ever since Sydney has been able to walk around I think she has developed narcolepsy! I know.... I know.... She isn't narcoleptic, but seriously.... this child can fall asleep at the drop of a hat and in the most peculiar places and positions. In the first picture, I was in the living room picking up her toys and heard Sydney playing with her refridgerator toys. After about 2 minutes I didn't hear her making any noise. You know what that means..... she's in something she's not suppose to be. So I walked out to the kitchen and find Sydney sprawled out on the floor sound asleep. Enjoy the pictures of Sydney "passing out"!

Papi's 50th Birthday Party!

I know it's hard to believe, but Papi just turned 50 years old on May 13th! Anytime the family can get together is a blast, but this surprise party was an unwelcomed surprise for Papi. As soon as he drove behind the house and realized the "Memorial Day Party" was actually a birthday party for him, he kept driving past the house! Papi didn't seem that happy about the party, but after a few minutes he warmed up and enjoyed himself. We don't have any pictures of the party, but here are a few pictures of Sydney playing in the yard afterward.

Family Picnic Day

One thing that Darla has wanted to do for awhile was take Sydney on a picnic. We finally had a "free" Saturday, so we packed up a lunch and went to the Milton State Park. Here is a picture of Sydney and Daddy posing for a snapshot that Mommy just had to take. Once we were done eating, we decided to take a nice stroll around the park. Sydney seemed to have a lot of fun riding in her stroller around the trail and playing on the swings. Overall, I think it was a great day, and Sydney seemed to have a lot of fun. Hopefully we'll get some time to get back for another picnic before the summer is over.

Sydney’s big step or should I say jump on her own.

Monday night, 5/12/08, Sydney mommy and daddy were all playing on the floor with Sydney’s new blocks when all of a sudden, Sydney got this look of determination on her and managed to get herself into standing position with no help from mommy or daddy. And what did she do? Jump! Of course took about 3-4 jumps before she lost control and leaped into mommy’s arms! Figures she wouldn’t take steps, but jump. That’s my girl! Lean mean jumping machine! When I got to work the next to share the big news with Lori and Tony, Tony argued with me, he said I’m sure she didn’t actually jump. She might have looked like she was jumping but I bet her feet didn’t leave the ground. So I do want to clarify with any other disbelievers that her feet did in fact leave the ground when she jumped. And if you would like to see it for yourself, come on over! She puts on quite a show these days! Haha I as worried about when she would start that we would have more things to worry about, but she’s been great! And I got to say the constant whining we’ve been dealing with for the past three weeks is finally over. You couldn’t leave the room without her fussing. Unless you picked her up and took her with you and most of the time she would let you hold her so you had to help her walk. Now all we do is have to check to make sure she’s following behind us which is normally the case now. I’ll make sure daddy gets some new pics on here for you all. So sorry (barb) about the delay in writing.

IT'S OFFICAL!

Hi Everyone, so sorry for the delay in posting. Barb yelled at Jeremy the other day about it! We've had way too much going on, with mommy finishing up her play, cousin Brett's first holy communion, etc, etc! But we had to make time to get on to tell everyone's Syndey's big news! She took her first "independant" steps on 5/1/08. She finally took a stroll across Mimi and Pappy's living room on thursday night. As most of you know, Syndey's been cruising along anything that wouldn't move but would not take that "step out on faith" by herself. We been having so much fun with her testing out her new skills, I think the hardest part for her, is she wants to go, but go fast! I think that's mommies fault for making her run across the living room while I held her hands, but I would get such a giggle out of her I couldn't resist. We play "ready, set, go!" I would hold her really still and once I said go, we run run run! Which usually ended up in Mommie dragging her across the room. But its fun and that's all that matter right? haha She never ceases to amaze us. It really interesting to watch those little wheels turning in her head. You can tell she's learning more and more how to communicate. Just this morning, I picked up our phone and started dialing to call Mimi and Sydney heard me dialing and starting repeating "hello, hello" Which actually sounds like "owo" She shapes her cute little lips so tight and out comes "owo" On Thursday, Jeremy and I took Sydney for soem all too important grocery shopping, and Sydney walked ALL around that big store, with mommie only offering a finger to hold and spent the time walking around and socializing, every person who came past her she had to greet with a wave and "hi!" It was so neat to see that transition from people having to come up and say hi to her for her to respond and how quickly she learned that wait a minute, I'm not waiting for them to say hi first, I'll start the conversation! Looks like mom has some competition with being Miss Social Butterfly of the year! haha

How Cute!

I couldn't resist sharing this picture with you. It's such a cute picture of Sydney. She looks absolutely adorable. I don't think I can say it enough how God has blessed us with such an awesome child! She looks so big in this picture and so cute. Don't you just wanna squeeze her?

So, I forgot to tell you all that Darla surprised me on Sydney's Birthday by bringing her in to school over my lunch period. It was such a great gift for me to see my baby on her first birthday! Here's a pic of her standing at one of the desks in my classroom. I'm not really sure how to take this, but one of my students when she saw Sydney said, "Wow! Mr. Bing, your daughter is actually cute". I tell ya.... kids say the craziest things!

I also must say that Sydney is picking up some odd behaviors. So, here's the latest.... Sydney has a difficult time just laying and drinking her bottle mainly because she has to be moving and checking everything out. She has figured a way to crawl and take her bottle with her. Check it out! I tell ya, this kid never ceases to amaze me. What a great problem solver she is. What more could I ask for as a math teacher?

One-Year Check-Up

Just to fill you all in on Sydney's growth. She had her one-year check-up yesterday and she is 31.25 inches tall and 24 lbs 11oz. She is definately one healthy little girl. She also got two shots yesterday. She did cry for a little, but it did not affect her behavior for the rest of the day. What a good girl she is!

Here are a few extra pics I didn't know what to do with. Sydney has quite the array of faces with a personality to match each one! Every day she makes me laugh with her crazy antics. By the way, take notice to the teensie tiny pig tail Mommy put on top of her head in the picture above. Do you think Sydney likes it?

Happy 1st Birthday, Sydney!!!

I still can't believe it's been a while year already since Sydney was born! For those of you that were able to attend Sydney's Birthday party, we want to say "thank you" for celebrating with us. We have included a few pictures from the party for those of you that were unable to attend.

I must say, to my surprise, that Sydney was very dainty with her cake.....at first. Very carefully she touched the cake and tasted it with her finger; however, before too long Sydney was tearing into her cake and shoving handfuls of icing into her mouth (...thanks Mary)! When it was all said and done, we had cake on the floor and the walls, as well as up and down Sydney's arms and all over her pretty dress.

Overall, I'd say that Sydney's first birthday party was perfect. She got some awesome presents, and I think she really enjoyed herself even though she had no idea it was for her. Let's hope that the next year goes as smoothly!

This is how my mommy felt last year at this time!

I couldn’t resist these pictures when I was thinking about the agony I was in this day I thought this picture of Syd could best describe how I was feeling!

So today was the day, I was filled with emotion from tears to laughing! Happy to finally evict the tenant I’ve been carrying around for 10 months, and to finally see her beautiful face! That last month was a nightmare it was like all of a sudden a switch got flipped and I was miserable. Bye bye happy glow, hello red swollen face and feet for a month straight! Haha And like all mothers would agree, I would do it again in a heartbeat for that little bundle of joy! Boy, to think how fast that year went. It’s been one of the best years of my life! I can’t imagine life without her! We will make sure to load up the blog with a bunch of birthday pictures of our wonderful little girl!!

A note from Daddy....

Did you ever have one of those days where everything went wrong? That was me and Sydney last night. As soon as Darla left for play practice, the night went south..... quick. Withing 10-15 minutes, Sydney had managed to find my soda which was sitting on the end table by the couch. Somehow she reached up and pulled the entire glass of soda all over her head and onto the carpet. That means I had to not only clean the carpet, but then I had to give Sydney a bath. Unfortunately, Sydney wouldn't let Daddy alone to clean the carpet so I put her in her crib temporarily. It was at that point Sydney fell asleep with soda in her hair and everything..... yuck! After letting her nap for a half-hour or so, I figured I wake her up and give her the much needed bath. No such luck! Sydney woke up in such a bad mood. Nothing I did would calm her down! I gave her a bottle, which she sucked down like she hadn't eaten all day. I then tried to feed her some food, but she wasn't in the mood for that as she hit the spoon and sent food flying. At this point, I'm extremely frustrated with how the evening is going, so I decided it was "bath time". I strip her down and get ready to put my sticky baby in the bathtub. The second I put her in, she starts sobbing like I had just scolded her for something. After her bath, Sydney finally started acting like herself..... finally. Just in time for Mommy to walk in and see a perfect little angel. Figures.

Got Mail??

I had to share these pictures with you. For lack of a better place to set it. On occasion we will put the daily mail on the chair in the foyer until we get a chance to go through it. Well, we are learning that we need to head for higher ground. With Sydney able to pull herself up on to anything she decided one day to go through the mail for us. I know it shouldn’t surprise me when you have a room full of toys and she’s rather sit on the floor for a half an hour playing with the mail, but I can’t help wonder what’s so fascinating about a pile of envelopes! Haha And her new thing this week if velco. We got her a pair of velco sneakers and she will spend hours (literally!) opening and closing the velco on her sneakers. It’s hilarious!!

I also had to share this pic of Sydney’s bed head! She even still looks sleepy on the picture. This was of one morning when she first woke up. Her hair is growing so fast and is such a pretty color!

Sydney's 1st Easter

So technically this is actually Sydney's 2nd Easter seeing as how she was born the week before Easter last year, but this is the first one that actually counts. I still can't believe she's almost a year old! Where has the time gone? Anyways, Easter isn't truly Easter until you see the little girl in her Easter dress. Here's are some pictures of Sydney in her cute yellow dress. As you can sorta see, she was not a huge fan of the hat. You know what that means: It's a quick put-the-hat-on-her-head-and-snap-a-picture moment. Even thought these were only small glimpses of Sydney's 1st Easter, she looked absolutely adorable. Enjoy!

Go ahead and say it. "She is SO cute!" I know I'm sounding a bit partial being her Dad and all.... but seriously, have you ever seen such a cute baby? I didn't post all of the pictures that we took, but there is one with her putting plastic eggs in her hat. What's funny is that Aunt Tammy bought her a fancy Longaberger Easter Basket, but she would rather use her hat. It just goes to show you that you can buy all the best toys in the world, but give the kid a cardboard box and they will play for hours. Go figure!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Okay.... I know it's been almost a month since our last post. We are such bad parents for not keeping up with our child's blog. Honestly, though, we have been running around like crazy people getting ready for our Easter Drama. Sydney has done remarkably well considering how hectic our lives have been. Her schedule is off a little, but I have a feeling it could be much worse.

I can't believe it's Easter already! Where has the past year gone. Sydney was born last year on the week before Easter. So guess what that means....... Sydney's almost 1! In fact if you ask her, she may even show you how old she is...... if you're lucky.

So, there isn't really anything new to tell you. Sydney still is not walking, which is a surprise to me. She cruizes on everything and pulls herself up to stuff all the time, but she does not have enough courage to let go yet. I know it will come in time, but I'm anxious. Well, anyways... that's all I have time for today. Stay tuned.... Sydney will be a 1-year-old in about two weeks. We will be sure to post pictures from her first birthday party.

A Quick Update...

I've been reading all sorts of books on how babies develop and seeing what the monthly milestones are so I can tell if Sydney is on track with her skills. Every place I have seen says that babies don't develop many new skills at her age because they are preparing for walking. All I keep thinking is.... "Yeah, right!" Sydney seems to constantly be exploring her surroundings; however, now that I think about it...... she really hasn't done anything new since our last posting.

As of right now, Sydney can point to her nose and ears on command as well as play some other word associaton games like "So Big". She is still cruizing on the furniture although she is slowly getting more and more brave as the days roll on. Sydney is now starting to let go of these supporting objects so she can grab on to another object. It's so cool watching her grow up.

I've got to say that we've been pretty fortunate because Sydney has not gotten sick at all since she was born. Unfortunately, Sydney appears to be getting sick. She has been a little "sad" the past 2 days or so. I don't think it's anything serious. She's not running a fever or anything, but she just seems "down". The poor thing....

So what did you do on your snow day?

Sydney lounging on a lazy snow day! How cute is that!
Hopefully she will learn early what this is for and how to use it!
I love this one! She was doing everything possible to get up there. She's even on her tip toes! Soon she will be using the stove handle as a chin up bar like her little friend Joshua!

This child will sit for a good 15-20 minutes making sure there's not one single dry spot on this string. Soon it's going to stand up on end!

Here are some fun pictures we took of Sydney when we were snowed in for the past couple of days. Every day is a new adventure with her. She’s getting more and more courageous every day. She’s not afraid to pull her self up on to anything anymore. And yesterday I watch her contemplate whether or not to sit and crawl to the next obstacle or if she just reaches far enough she could eliminate a step. I caught her in the bathroom yesterday standing at the toilet which we now realized we need to start putting the lid down just in case! She was in front of the toilet and I watched her reach to the vanity as if she going to cruise to that next. She didn’t quite have the nerve to let go, or at least last night she didn’t. But today’s a new day, who knows what she’ll conquer today! Haha I do have to say with all the action she gives, we do get our down time too. Mornings are so great with her. Once she wakes up and has breakfast, she’ll either play by herself or sit and cuddle with you while she watches Mickey’s Clubhouse. And within 2-3 hours after she wakes up she ready for nap 1#. Mom jokes with us and says we really don’t know what it’s like to raise a baby because she’s so out of the ordinary, we are so lucky to have such a great baby! Even as she’s teething we haven’t had too many problems. Last night was alittle difficult but still nothing compared to some of the horror stories I hear. Syd woke up around 12:30am screaming like as if she was in pain. She seamed to cry more when I gave her, her binki which lead me to believe it was her teeth. So daddy gave her some yummy drugs and within 15 minutes she was back to sleep.

Batten Down the Hatches

It's been a bit crazy around our house recently with Sydney's new found freedom of being able to get pretty much anywhere she wants. This has proven to be a restless time for us. Especially since I have been sick battling some sort of unknown illness. At any rate, Sydney is pulling herself up to everything, pulling on knobs (and pulling some off), eating cords, licking windows, and pretty much anything else you can think of. If she's awake, she's busy doing something. The good news is that Sydney is such an independent baby. She is able to sit for hours playing by herself. Thank God for small miracles!

OH! Before I forget, ... Sydney has learned how to wave. It's so cute! The other morning when we were waking her up for the day, I said "Hi, baby girl!" She struggled to pull her head up and barely cracked her eyes long enough to give me a wave. That was enough for her... she immediately flopped her head back down and tried to get a few more seconds of sleep. It's so neat to see her learning to communicate. Supposedly, Sydney can blow kisses too; but I have yet to see that happen.